If you’re working for Wolf Trap watch what you tweet. Maybe.

The Wolf Trap Foundation presented its employees with a new social media policy this year. Unless you happen to work for them this probably strikes you as about as interesting, news-wise, as the Pope continuing to be Catholic. Social media policies aren’t anything new or even necessarily anything to be concerned about. There’s something to be said for knowing where you stand and what standard you’ll be expected to meet.

What makes Wolf Trap somewhat interesting is that the people bound by this policy work side by side with people who are not bound by it. Foundation employees are working for a general non-profit but another sizable group at the park are federal employees of the National Park Service – folks who have sometimes better, sometimes just different free speech protections than the average employee. Like what? What’s Wolf Trap’s guidance? For that you’ve gotta read on…

It’s a fairly simple document and sets expectations, though it’s a little overly broad for my taste. Compare some pieces to the guidance that healthcare giant Roche provides to their employees[pdf] for when they’re speaking as themselves, not representatives of the company.

You are responsible for your actions. You are “speaking” publicly and your contribution may stay searchable and retrievable for a long time to a broad audience – both internally and externally. Anything that brings damage to our business or reputation will ultimately be your responsibility. This does not mean that you should refrain from any activity, but that you should use common sense and take at least the same caution with social media as with all other forms of communication.

There’s no such division of work and home life for Wolf Trap’s employees – they’re always on notice.

Whether or not you identify yourself as a Wolf Trap Foundation employee, seasonal staff member or intern, Wolf Trap Foundation must not be falsely represented, or represented in a way that will injure its reputation or business.

I don’t love the idea that someone who never identifies themselves with Wolf Trap online can’t state an honest and verifiable fact if it makes Wolf Trap look bad. Saying that the lawn seems soggy might negatively impact ticket sales for the night, is that beyond the pale? The incident that was related to us by our leaker was that someone had made an online comment about the presence of bomb-sniffing dogs at a show entrance and got prodded by HR about it. If that harms Wolf Trap’s image it’s not the employee’s fault, is it?

The long and short of it, though, is that it really doesn’t matter. Most folks in the US are at-will employees and are not protected by a labor contract, so they can be canned for pretty much anything that isn’t one of a narrow group of protected reasons/classes. If the Wolf Trap Foundation wanted to make promoting every show on your own personal Facebook page a condition of your continued employment they could do it. Their reasonable-sounding document above doesn’t prevent the Roche corporation from going ahead and firing someone who tweeted something negative about the new cafeteria paint color.

The reality is that folks working for the Wolf Trap Foundation have the same worry as any other private employee, regardless of whether they have a great policy, a crappy one, or none at all: it all comes down to whether or not the folks in charge choose to handle managing folks with subtly and trust or blanket approaches and nitpicking. Those of you who are in the employ of the federal government have the same problem; protections against being sanctioned for your speech doesn’t protect you from being badly managed or fired under a false pretense.

So be careful what you say online. Three can keep a secret… if two are dead and none of them are on Facebook.

Well I used to say something in my profile about not quite being a “tinker, tailor, soldier, or spy” but Tom stole that for our about us page, so I guess I’ll have to find another way to express that I am a man of many interests.

Hmm, guess I just did.

My tastes run the gamut from sophomoric to Shakespeare and in my “professional” life I’ve sold things, served beer, written software, and carried heavy objects… sometimes at the same place. It’s that range of loves and activities that makes it so easy for me to love DC – we’ve got it all.

One thought on “If you’re working for Wolf Trap watch what you tweet. Maybe.”

Lawyers ruin everything. What does Wolf Trap have to worry about? You’d think they’d want their employees sharing news about the good things that they’re doing and engaging their personal networks. Instead, if I worked there, I’d never want to mention Wolf Trap at all.

Don

Well I used to say something in my profile about not quite being a "tinker, tailor, soldier, or spy" but Tom stole that for our about us page, so I guess I'll have to find another way to express that I am a man of many interests.
Hmm, guess I just did.
My tastes run the gamut from sophomoric to Shakespeare and in my "professional" life I've sold things, served beer, written software, and carried heavy objects... sometimes at the same place. It's that range of loves and activities that makes it so easy for me to love DC - we've got it all.

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